just wondering. both my fiancee and i have been in car accidents since march. both of our agents (state farm and allstate) did absolutely nothing to help us. anytime we called them it was "call this person" or "call this department". so, i'm wondering what exactly they do other than send me new cards every 6 months and take my money (and try to get me to keep my renter's insurance after i bought a house because it saved me money on my car insurance). side question (and what made me wonder this), after my car was fixed, i've had a/c issues and it was working fine before the wreck. the body shop that fixed my car has "fixed" it every time without charging anything, but i'm sick of driving an hour round trip when they obviously cannot fix it. can i take it to another dealer and try to use the same claim number? i tried calling my agent, but of course, they told me to call someone else.
They sell you the insurance, and that is pretty much it. They really don't have much control over the insurance companies policies. If you guys got hurt, a lawyer is what you needed, not your agent. DD
My guess is that they're more like a salesman than anything else. Their main job is likely to get people to buy the insurance in the first place, and from there they defer to other departments for claims and anything else.
nope we were fine. i'm just sick of driving an hour round trip for a body shop to tell me they fixed my a/c only to have it stop working a day or two later. i'd like to take it to the toyota dealership three minutes from my house and hoped i wouldn't have to deal with an annoying claims department that practices terrible customer support.
Your insurance agents sound crappy. Most of them are, though some are great. In addition to making sales and getting a cut of your premium, they're also supposed to service you: like explain what coverage you have, guide you through any claims procedure, be available at an office location so you can have face-to-face time. The ones that only care about money try to do the absolute minimum. My family has an insurance office and we do a lot of hand holding because we work in the immigrant community. I'm thinking the mainstream white world is more hands off and lets the customer figure things out on their own.
Agents sell policies, they don't handle claims. Your adjuster is the one who assists you through the claims process. RM95, What shop are you dealing with? Where was your vehicle hit at (front end, rear end, etc.)?
it's called platinum motorsports. aside from their sneakiness which led to my being forced to have my car serviced there, they've been great. and i have no doubt they think they've fixed the problem. i just can't keep driving all the way to richmond. front end towards the middle, but more on the passenger side.
In short, they are independent salesman. A good agent will be your advocate. The insurance company will do as little possible for you in the event you need to make a claim. A good agent will advise you on options. I was with Allstate and the first agent I signed up was great. He sold out to another agent, and he was horrible. When I was in an accident, he sent me directly to Allstate. Only after I switched insurance companies shortly after did the new agent enlighten me that I could have gotten much more money from that previous accident.
and of course, claims has not called me back after two messages. gonna be fun to tell them i'm leaving in three weeks when my wife and i merge our auto insurance.
Not true for all. My company bent over backwards for me and gave me more than I needed. I even had to amend my claim a week later to add additional costs that I needed them to cover, and it went over as smooth as possible. Honestly, I was surprised because I thought it would be a big hassle. (It was a hit-and-run on my parked car.)
Yes sir. All of them are douches... just comin' out of college thinking they're going to make the big bucks and get some ladies... when in fact they are just losers.
I have never believed in insurance. It all just seems like a big scam to me. They'll always find a loophole to deny your claim, and then even if they do pay out they will jack up your payments to recoup their loss. Bunch of scammers....
There's actually sound logical basis for insurance. In practice, not all companies act honorably. But theoretically, insurance is a good thing. If you are fortunate enough to have a good company and a good agent, then your thoughts will be different.
No, it will catch up with you. If you get in an accident, it goes on record, just as if you get a ticket. Most policies are written for 6 months. If you're in the first month or two, it would be pointless to change. If you're in month 5, then you could change companies and get a new policy written to hold you over for another 6 months. It would need to be done immediately, but it would also involve you being dishonest. Finding out how your state's insurance deals with accidents and tickets is very important. For example in my state, running stop sign violation holds just as much weight as an accident over $3000.
